STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

People Are Calling Rep. Jason Chaffetz Shameful for Threatening to Go After Obama's Pension

Other former presidents have given paid speeches and signed lucrative book deals with no criticism.

After Barack Obama accepted a $400,000 fee for an upcoming speech he will make on Wall Street, members of congress plan to reintroduce a bill that will shrink his presidential pension.

The bill was first introduced in 2016 and was vetoed by then-President Obama. However, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, plans to get the bill signed into law.

"The Obama hypocrisy on this issue is revealing," Chaffetz told USA Today. "His veto was very self-serving."

  • If signed by Donald Trump, the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act would reduce the pension by a dollar for every dollar that exceeds a $400,000 income.  

    As of right now, former presidents receive $207,800 and an additional $150,000 for staff and office space.

    Chaffetz and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, believe they would have bipartisan support on the bill they plan to introduce this month.

    “[Rep. Elijah] Cummings definitely supports the concept, and if we can work out the technical issues with the bill that arose late in the last Congress, we expect he would strongly support it again," said spokeswoman Jennifer Hoffman Werner.

  • Obama's speaking fee, as well as the recent $65 million book deal he and Michelle signed, have been called into question by many non-supporters. However, many other past presidents have been paid to make similar speeches and also signed multiple book deals. The criticism Obama is receiving for his speeches seems somewhat new. 

    "President Obama will deliver speeches from time to time," Eric Schultz, a former White House spokesman, told USA Today. "Some of those speeches will be paid, some will be unpaid, and regardless of venue or sponsor, President Obama will be true to his values, his vision and his record."

  • Many have called Chaffetz shameful for picking on President Obama for doing the same thing other presidents have

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